The uncertainty surrounding the World Drivers Championship has finally, but put to rest. However, the means by which this was achieved can only leave the most tunnel-visioned tifosi smiling.

McLaren-Mercedes’ appeal of the Brazilian GP stewards’ decision to not penalize BMW-Sauber and Williams F1 for fuel temperature irregularities posed a difficult challenge for the FIA. In one scenario, the FIA could decide to follow past precedent and disqualify the BMW-Sauber and Williams cars and promoting Lewis Hamilton to a fourth place finish. The result of such a move would be to take the drivers title from the Kimster and hand it to Hammy. Obviously, this would suck for Kimi, would be far from the best way for Hammy to take his first WDC, and would toss F1 into a tizzy. Another option would have been to disqualify the BMW-Saubers and Williams cars, but leave Hammy in 7th place. While this sounds like a reasonable compromise is a clear and irrefutable departure from past precedent. As such, it would cause an entirely different kind of tizzy. The last option was to simply uphold the stewards’ decision to not penalize BMW-Sauber and Williams. Again, far from an ideal outcome.

Rather, the decision was to rule the McLaren appeal as inadmissible. Apparently, only a “party” to a decision can appeal it, which to the FIA means only BMW-Sauber and Williams were allowed to appeal. But since the decision was to spare them from penalty, why would they? Rather, other teams would want to protest any potential advantage that those two teams enjoyed. I don’t know about you, but this just stinks. Obviously, McLaren agrees, particularly in light of the penalty they got a few races ago.

The fact of the matter is that the decision to not penalize these two teams, and today’s decision, was colored by the race’s obvious bearing on the outcome of the chamipionship. Of course, we all know that every race has a bearing on the championship points, but in this case, it was the last race, with the protagonists separated by a handful of points.

While rules-related controversies are pretty frequent in F1 and FIA rulings are about as consistent as religious dogma, the sport has to figure out how to deal with situations like this. They didn’t occur during the era of Schumi-Ferrari domination, but with the current crop of drivers, these situations will likely become much more frequent. If today’s ruling is any indication of how the FIA intends to handle things, then my beloved sport is in trouble.

No one wanted to see Kimi lose the title, or see Lewis win it this way, but rules should be administered and enforced consistently.

Let’s hope Alex Wurz replaces Max Mosely soon!
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